


To Binge

by lesbianoodle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 19:18:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10225256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianoodle/pseuds/lesbianoodle
Summary: Keith and Lance broke up in senior year. But things are complicated.





	

As soon as Keith got the text, he was on his feet. He didn't waste time grabbing his jacket, reasoning that this was more important, and didn't explain anything to Allura before he closed the door behind him. He had been waiting for a text from Lance for weeks and now that it had finally come, he couldn't wait for a second to see him. The air outside was warm, not sweltering hot but a pleasant early spring warm, and he could only hear his footsteps against the sidewalk and the sound of himself breathing steadily. 

Walking fast, he thought about the first time that he'd ever seen Lance from across the room back when they were just in middle school. How he'd seen dark eyes set in a determined little stare and the innocence of a kid that had been raised in a normal way. He looked like everything that Keith used to be and that was what had originally drawn Keith to him. Their love wasn't meant to be however; they'd had an ongoing rivalry throughout middle school that had ended until their freshman year of high school. Only then had they been reduced to frenemies. 

He'd just always assumed that Lance was straight, even though that was a weird assumption to make, and restricted himself to just being friends with him. That was what Keith was best at, after all, setting rules and restrictions for himself when he didn't need to. If he hadn't stopped himself, maybe he would have asked Lance out in freshman year. He had fallen in love with him all over again on the first day back when he'd seen Lance tanned from the summer with his hair starting to curl from how long it had been since his last haircut. 

But in the end, Lance made the first step. In the summer between freshman and sophomore year, when their friends had been busy so it had just been the two of them, elbowing each other and making jabs at each other in the summer sun. They'd been lazing outside, Lance tanning like he always did in the sun and Keith at risk of being burnt to a crisp. It was a hot, sweaty summer and Lance's skin had been slick with sweat, his shirt sticking to him. And Lance had just been talking, Keith had been throwing blades of grass at him, and then suddenly they'd been kissing. Lance's mouth was pressing into his and he tasted like popsicles. 

They had made out for a long time after that, rolling around in the grass of Lance's backyard underneath the sweltering sun, before Lance gave up and laid sprawled across the grass. They talked after that. Needless to say, it turned out that Lance wasn't straight at all and Keith had been waiting all those years for no reason at all. They started dating the very next week, though things were shaky at first as they treaded the careful line of firsts in relationships. Neither of them had dated anybody before but Keith was scared, though he didn't want to admit it. And Lance was just an idiot when it came to dating. That didn't change. 

It had been a whirlwind romance of sorts, hot and quick and moving at the speed of a freight train. Things like holding hands and kissing and taking stupid photos came easily to Lance but not so easily to Keith. He felt like the whole thing was being rushed when it didn't need to be and that was what their first fight was about, on the night before they went back to school. Lance said that Keith was being ridiculous and non-committal and demanded to know why he was digging his heels in desperately to slow them down. Keith said that Lance was making him go faster than he was comfortable with and that maybe he wasn't ready yet. Both were hurtful but in the end, it was Keith that had to walk away and sit out on the porch of Lance's house. 

Lance came outside after ten minutes and held his hand and said that he was sorry, he was new to this. They were both new to dating, both of them fumbling uncertainly in the dark for how they were supposed to do it. In the end, they didn't break up and on the first day of sophomore year, they showed up as a couple instead of two individuals. Keith even walked to school with Lance, begrudgingly because his boyfriend was always late, and they showed up to school just as the bell rang. Hands grew clammier as they stepped inside the building and Keith had to swallow his fear. He was sweating, like he did when he was anxious, and his shirt was sticking to his shoulders. Lance joked about, lightening the situation. 

Everything turned out to be fine and they settled back into regular life; but this time as Keith-And-Lance instead of Keith and Lance. It felt like a friendship sometimes and a relationship sometimes and the whole time, it felt like something strong was pulsing between them like a heartbeat. It made Keith's head spin just thinking about it. Becoming a couple was different to being one person standing alone; it was being two people joined at then hands and the hips. They didn't kiss around other people still. Keith wanted things to private. Their bond was just for them, not the whole school to ogle at between classes. 

Kissing became snatched moments between classes when they could slip into empty classrooms or broom closets. They were long, lingering memories late at night when they were supposed to be studying but Lance was too wired to concentrate on anything. It was the taste of somebody else blossoming on his tongue and the feeling of his boyfriend's hands tracing down his arms and his spine and coming to rest on his knees. Kissing was the two of them sitting with their sides pressed together against the wall of Keith's bedroom and breathing each other in like cigarette smoke. Keith used to smoke then. It helped with the shaking anxiety. 

He stupidly thought that they'd always be together effortlessly. Because most things seemed to come easily to Lance and after a while, dating seemed to be one of those things. Keith thought that their lives would be intertwined like that forever but he hadn't understood that after a while, all relationships are tested. They started to get irritated with each other again but they couldn't just fall out of it and back into love. It was during their senior year of high school that they started to fall apart when the pressures of college and exams started to create cracks in their relationship. Their disagreements seemed to matter so much more now. 

Keith took up smoking again, leaning out of his bedroom window so that the smoke would escape outside and puffing on a cigarette. He always prayed that Allura- his foster mom- wouldn't find out because he knew that she wouldn't like it and that she'd worry about him. When Lance found out, he nearly tore out his hair in frustration and their relationship finally hit the bricks for good. It was Keith who had sighed, his throat sore from arguing, and said in the calmest voice he could manage that they just weren't working, were they? And Lance wanted to know if they were breaking up. And Keith just looked down.

It was Lance that had walked away, in the end, and left him standing there. Keith hadn't been mad at him because he knew that it wasn't either of their faults that things just weren't working for them. Instead, he'd stood there for hours and sifted through his memories to try to work out what he could have done. He hadn't gone home until it was dark and he was ready to move on with his life. Things had been awkward for the last few months of senior year as the two of them avoided eye contact and tried to act like nothing was wrong between them. Seeing Lance every day was like being kicked in the stomach repeatedly but the summer was worse. 

The summer after senior year had been dragging on and on. Keith had stared at his phone, waiting for Lance to call or text or something, before they both went off to different colleges in the fall. Nothing. It had been complete radio silence since the last day of school and he hadn't so much as caught a glimpse of Lance in public. And he tried to content himself with the fact that Lance moving on from him was good and that they'd both be better now. That was before he'd gotten the text tonight. Something simple. Lance wanted to meet him. 

He was coming up to the place now, an old park for kids that was halfway between their homes, where they used to shove each other around in middle school. He could see Lance's lanky form from here, his skin tanned from the summer and his hair desperately in need of a trim, and he was sitting on one of the swings with his feet trailing across the ground. Instantly, his heart jumped into his throat and he had to stop himself from running over. Taking deep breaths, he walked calmly and sat down on the other swing. They exchanged "hey"s and then Keith waited. He waited for Lance to say something. 

The toes of Lance's shoes were digging into the dry dust underneath them, smudging dirt all the way up the front of his sneakers. His breathing was uneven, nervous, and he couldn't look Keith in the eyes. He just kept his gaze fixed on somewhere in the distance like if he looked hard enough, he could see into the future. His future. Keith watched him steadily, trying to catch his eye. Would Lance really call him out here without planning what to say? Maybe Keith was supposed to know what to say. The evening was cold but his hands were clammy. 

In the end, Keith had to give up on getting a response. He was so stupid to think that Lance even cared about him anymore or that he even had any reason to care about him. Their relationship was in the past, it didn't matter anymore- and then, Lance caught hold of his wrist and gently pulled him back. Their eyes caught. And Lance spoke.


End file.
